[vcf-midatlantic] Greenbar printout DONE!

[Dave McGuire]

On 2/28/21 1:13 PM, Andrew Diller via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
> Just to be clear- when you say they are line printers, that means that they have pins across the entire width of the paper/platen - and can print an entire line at a time, right? There is no moving print head...

   It depends.  "Line printer" is one of those terms that became 
successively more abused as time went on.  It used to mean "prints a 
whole line at a time", but later that definition became somewhat distorted.

   Kinda like architects using big floor-standing HP ink-jet printers, 
calling them "plotters", to the point where HP themselves calls them 
"plotters".  They are not plotters; they are ink-jet printers.  But they 
replaced pen/vector plotters, so they kept calling their output devices 
"plotters".

   We have a big Tally/Genicom 4490XT printer at LSSM.  This 1400 LPM 
printer prints an entire line at a time, but how it does it does 
actually involve a moving print head.  The print head is the width of 
the paper, but it has columns of pins in groups with spaces between 
them.  While printing, that head moves back and forth at great speed, 
you can barely see it move, with a total reciprocating lateral travel of 
maybe 1/4".  It moves the groups of pins back and forth to fill in the 
gaps between the groups.  But it's still called a "line printer".

                -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA